Cat calls, hissing and grumbling ran rampant in the packed Lake County Fairrounds on Wednesday evening, as Lake, Porter and LaPorte county residents gathered to discuss the perceived future of the Illiana Expressway.

P>They were the farmers who could lose their land if the theoretical Illiana Expressway route comes to fruition.

They were the residents who would have to move when the expressway runs through their land.

And they were the distraught Northwest Indiana natives, who grew up near the small businesses and tiny restaurants that would be destroyed to make room for the highway. The highway would run from Illinois through Indiana to ease traffic off other highways and speed commerce through the state.

They met Wednesday to discuss other options and to try to protest loud enough so lawmakers would take note and possibly halt the multimillion dollar study of the Illiana Expressway.

"We live here," said David Ahlberg of Valparaiso. "Why can't we decide what happens here? I'm in the way. None of this is going to benefit me because I'm going to have to leave."

When Don Babcock, chair of economic development for the Northwest Indiana forum, suggested that the expressway could benefit the economy, bringing more business to Northwest Indiana, he was greeted by angry shouts from residents.

Anthony Lutgen, a Lowell resident, said the only people it could benefit would be Illinois, not Northwest Indiana.

"We've got a dump in Indiana, we've got Chicago's garbage and now they want a toll road going in so we get Chicago's traffic," Lutgen said. "I have a major problem with that. It would go close to my front yard."

Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub suggested that instead of creating a toll road running through Indiana's farmland, that they make a highway continue on Lake Shore Drive, similar to the one from Chicago to Hammond.

Scheub said Chicago's Lake Shore Drive sports fancy homes and upscale businesses, the likes of which Northwest Indiana should aim to imitate.

"We'd have new condos on the lakefront, new businesses, we'd make beautiful beaches like they have in Chicago," Scheub said. "The downside for Illiana is tremendous."